Helping people Make Healthier Choices about real-food choices for optimal heath.
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There is a disturbing photo, similar to the one below (except there’s no additional bowl in the sink), I’ve seen numerous times being circulated on social media. It promotes washing fruits and vegetables in the kitchen sink with vinegar. I personally find it disturbing — for two reasons:
1. Sink traps – Under all properly installed sinks is a trap. The trap’s purpose is to hold water in the u-shaped area thereby sealing off methane gasses that would otherwise find their way back into our homes. This drain is not only attached to the same pipe that toilets flush into, it makes a great breeding ground for bacteria — bacteria that can potentially find its way back up into the sink. The only way I know to be certain of no bacteria in the trap, is to disinfect it with bleach. Those of us with septic systems usually avoid bleach like the plague. Even then, I’m not so sure I would trust it to be completely germ-free.
I think a better choice for washing fruits and vegetables, is to use a large bowl in the sink or dedicate a dishpan solely for washing fruits and vegetables.
Image credit: joey333 / 123RF Stock Photo
2. White vinegar – sure white vinegar wasn’t invented to be eaten, it was invented to be used as a cleaning disinfectant, but I’m not sure it’s suitable for disinfecting food. As far as I know, it is made from Genetically modified (GMO) corn that no longer needs to be sprayed with pesticides. BT Corn that is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency because it was engineered to have insecticide on the INSIDE. Is vinegar a good choice for washing fruits and vegetables? I don’t think so for a couple reasons. I don’t think it makes sense to buy organic, GMO-free foods and wash them with made-from-GMO-grain white vinegar. I do purchase white vinegar for cleaning my coffee pot, setting colors into dark clothes, and sometimes use it to clean my refrigerator. Every time I use it, however, it doesn’t feel right–I feel I’m promoting GMOs. The more often we buy GMOs, the more often they’re manufactured and the bigger the risk of non-GMO foods becoming contaminated.
My favorite fruit/vegetable wash is making my own with soap and Améo essential oils. If you don’t want to make your own, I used Veggie Wash for years and have used Tropical Traditions’ All-Purpose Everyday Cleaner and diluted it roughly 50 to 1.
I think most of us realize that pesticides are systemically consumed by the fruit and vegetables, thereby making it impossible to wash them off. I have no idea if the chemicals, that are sprayed on after harvest to keep them fresh, can be washed off. I’ve been able to finally switch most of my fruits and vegetables to organic. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone switched to organic? Wouldn’t we then only see organic in our supermarkets?
I think it’s useless to wash fruits and vegetables with the intent of removing pesticides. I do think it’s imperative to wash them, if I don’t know and trust my local farmer, to hopefully remove bacteria — listeria, e. coli, etc. Bacteria from CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, also known as farm factories) is known to run into fields of fruits and veggies – organic or not. If the CAFO is located ‘upstream’ of a field of spinach (or any fruit or vegetable that grows on the ground), it’s almost guaranteed to be contaminated with bacteria.
I also wonder: How many people handled my fruits/vegetables? How many did not wash their hands after using the bathroom? How many sick people handled my fruits/vegetables? I never want to say, “my family member/friend wouldn’t have been so sick (or worse) if I’d washed my vegetables.”
Can I guarantee using a veggie wash or a few drops of essential oil with a few drops of soap will properly disinfect the bacteria from my food? Probably not. I will, however, sleep better at night knowing I at least tried.
Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between fact and fiction on the Internet. Especially when it comes to Kombucha. Kombucha myths are easy to find.
A properly fermented, home-made Kombucha will have little to no sugar. I don’t like to ferment mine so long that there’s no sugar left. At some point I’ll purchase a test kit to know how much sugar is in my kombucha. Be careful of commercial brands that add sugar after fermenting. If you can’t stand the taste of no-sugar-added Kombucha, it’s not a bad idea to start out with one with sugar added to get used to drinking it. You can always graduate slowly to one without the sugar. Not everyone will want to drink something as tart as Kombucha.
Probiotics are live organisms, such as yeasts and bacteria, that promote life. “Pro” means “for” and “biotic” means “life,” so probiotic means “for life.” Kombucha can’t be made without a SCOBY, which stands for Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast. A SCOBY is also known as a “mother,” “mushroom,” or “pancake.” To see if your store-bought Kombucha contains live cultures, try to grow your own SCOBY by putting some in a glass and leaving it on your counter for a week or so. You’ll see a film start to grow if it is alive. Populating our guts with good yeasts and good bacteria promotes life.
Cultures for Health is one of my favorite places to buy fermenting supplies. You can find them HERE. Check out their article that puts some Kombucha myths to rest: Busting Kombucha Myths.
Go back to: Are You Still Eating Wheat?
Facebook Inspiration:
I was inspired to write a long-overdue article about wheat because a recipe ended up in my Facebook news feed touting as “healthy,” and I didn’t agree. You can read the article here: Are You Still Eating Wheat?
It was posted by a diabetic friend. Perhaps, if I had seen it posted by a non-diabetic friend, I might have ignored it and moved on. The picture with this so-called “healthy” recipe showed white (not whole-wheat and not that whole wheat would make it healthier), bow-tie pasta, broccoli, and chicken in some sort of white sauce. It looked delicious, but then again, any picture of something made with white pasta would not only look delicious, it would also elicit a dopamine response in my brain!
My exact words were, “This looks delicious, but it’s far from healthy. There is no nutritional value in wheat pasta and wheat is about as unhealthy as you can get!” Okay, I’ll admit I shouldn’t have said, “no nutritional value in wheat pasta.” I should have said, “minute amount of nutritional value on its way to the table, but no nutritional value once it’s eaten!”
This is the first response I got: “Lynn: Where do you get your info from??? Here are the facts about wheat pasta!! And its “nutritional” value: 1) It is unprocessed whole wheat, which means its natural fiber, germ, and bran remain intact. 2) The fiber keeps your digestive system healthy and reduces cholesterol. 3) It contains iron & folic acid. 4) Since it is WHOLE grain, it is complex carbs like selenium (protects cells & immune system), potassium (important in neuron, brain, and nerve function, and in influencing osmotic balance between cells and the interstitial fluid, and in preventing muscle contraction, preventing hypokalemia). Magnesium (builds strong bones and muscle function). 5) The B-Vitamin (speeds up metabolism). The USDA recommends more than 50% of grains that are consumed should be WHOLE grains…which includes wheat pasta!!!!”
So first, I’d like to say the picture was of white pasta, not caramel-colored-made-to-look-like-whole-wheat pasta, but aside from that:
Go to the article here: Are You Still Eating Wheat?
There’s lots of misinformation on the internet–especially when it comes to milk kefir and other ferments. I watched a great video not too long ago that explained exactly how to make milk kefir. There were lots of people commenting that the instructions were wrong. This person had been making milk kefir for years, hadn’t killed the grains, and had successfully made kefir. So how wrong could those instructions have been? The only thing I disagreed with in their video, was the use of a colander to strain out the grains instead of a metal, fine-mesh strainer.
Many people use a plastic colander to strain their grains when the kefir is finished because they’ve been misinformed (as I was) about using metal with kefir grains and other ferments. Using a plastic mesh strainer might be okay for water kefir, but is impossible for milk kefir; it takes forever for the kefir to strain through. Using a colander with big holes allows the babies to slip through and yes, you’re eating/drinking your babies. It’s not that it is wrong to eat your baby kefir grains; you miss out on growing extras that can be gifted to friends and family, or sold. If you use a metal, fine-mesh strainer, you can rinse the strainer and see the small babies left behind. Yes, those are the babies you are eating since they’re slipping through the colander holes. Using a metal, fine-mesh strainer makes it easy to save those small babies so you can let them grow, dry them for later, or give them to a friend.
Now you’re saying, “you can’t use metal with kefir grains.” Sorry. You’re wrong. Stainless steel is fine. Do not use any other metal and make certain the metal you’re using is, in fact, stainless steel. I’ve been using stainless steel for years and never had a problem. I personally wouldn’t store kefir or the grains in metal or even plastic–I always use glass. And yes, it’s perfectly fine to use a stainless-steel spoon to transfer the grains. If you feel better using a plastic colander, at least line it with a fine mesh cheesecloth like this one so you don’t unknowingly eat/drink your babies.
If using pasteurized milk, there’s nothing special to do when you receive your grains other than if they’re dried, they need to be re-hydrated (activated). Follow the instructions that came with your grains. If using raw milk, they must be transitioned. Raw milk contains bacteria that the kefir grains need to get used to.
If you don’t have time for making milk kefir, check out high-quality probiotics here at my Fullscript Store:
I don’t ever rinse my kefir grains unless they’ve been sitting in the refrigerator for an extended period, because rinsing can weaken them. The only other time is after I strain my kefir, I rinse the bottle and strainer to find the babies. You’ll know if your grains need a rinse. They can go right from milk kefir into the new milk. NEVER rinse kefir grains with chlorinated or fluoridated water, as these chemicals can damage them. Chlorine’s job in the water is to kill bacteria, so you can imagine it would also kill the good bacteria in the grains.
Remember that the Grain in Kefir Grain doesn’t mean it’s a true grain; it’s a SCOBY – a Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast. They are living organisms and it’s important to take good care of them. Keeping them alive can sometimes be a challenge, especially if a vacation is on the schedule. I keep mine, tightly covered, in fresh, raw milk in a glass jar in the refrigerator for about two weeks. They’ve gone a bit longer and survived, but I try to give them new milk every two weeks.
Kefir grains actually look more like cauliflower than they do a grain:
Here’s a short how-to video:
If you have a young child, you probably know by now that head lice are becoming immune to treatments. Considering it’s back-to-school time, you might be starting to panic. So here’s my head-lice story:
One beautiful summer day (and many years ago), a young girl came to stay with us. Her parents were leaving on vacation and dropped her off directly after picking her up from summer camp.
Shortly after the young girl went home after her two-week stay, my phone rang. On the other end was her mother, “My daughter has head lice.” She didn’t sound too happy, but I think I almost fell over. I don’t like bugs and I certainly didn’t like the thought of head lice! I grabbed my daughter, scrutinized her hair and head and found nothing. Checked my husband’s. Nothing. Mine. Nothing. Surely, if her daughter had head lice, my daughter, I or my husband would have head lice, right? I was in disbelief and didn’t think it possible.
I jumped in my car and drove, about 20 minutes away, to her house. There they were. Her daughter sat having her hair combed out, after being washed with that toxic shampoo. I could see the different stages of dead lice sitting on top of her wet hair. (Kind of like those three different generations of squash bugs I found and eradicated in my garden yesterday – ick.) Oh my gosh, I thought, she’s been in my house for two weeks! I was horrified!
How could it be that this young girl, who slept in the same bedroom for two weeks with my daughter, had a major infestation of head lice, while the rest of us had none. Don’t get me wrong—we all did that sure-to-dry-out-anyone’s-hair lice shampoo thing and I spent an entire day at the laundromat. All the clean clothes and bedding sat in my car while I went through the entire house with my vacuum cleaner—never seeing a single louse.
I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to itch! 
Then, one day I realized that every household product including my laundry detergent, shampoo, conditioner and body soap contained tea tree oil. All the products came from a company that put tea tree oil in virtually all their products. There isn’t any other explanation that makes sense as to why those little buggers stayed put, except, plain and simple, bugs do not like tea tree oil. This happened many years ago and before I understood the amazing power of essential oils.
If I had a young child who could potentially bring home head lice, I’d surely be putting tea tree oil in their (and my) shampoo and conditioner and probably even in body soap and laundry detergent. I’d be spraying it in their hats, too. If you decide to use tea tree oil, DO NOT LET THE OIL GET INTO THE EYES!!!
If you’re interested in using clinical-grade (meaning they are guaranteed to have the same constituents as those used in clinical trials) essential oils that are microbial tested and heavy metal tested, please check out Améo Essential Oils. Contact me with any questions you may have and before ordering so I can help you get the best price: lynn at makehealthierchoices.com .
UPDATE – February 12, 2016 – I just came across this article that mentions using coconut oil for lice. I’ve never tried it (hope I never have to) but thought it might be worth a try, especially if it’s mixed with a little clinical-grade tea tree essential oil.
